Liveblogging - Hugh Hewitt Panel Discussion


Hugh Hughitt is headlining a panel discussion tonight - liveblogging will ensue

[ Welcome Hughitt, LaShawn Barber, and Charmaine Yoest readers as well as my fellow GodBlogCon attendees. Feel free to stay a while and check out other posts, or check out my podcast at JourneyToTheCenterOf.com - ed. ]

After foolishly not checking my schedule, and being totally ignorant of the Biola cafeteria's closing times, I somehow completely missed the whole dinner portion of the night. I guess they close the cafe at 6:30 on a Friday night, and I was too busy watching Hugh's show until 6 (even though I was supposed to be at dinner starting at 5) and then ended up in a great discussion with a number of other bloggers on how to make the convention more accessible to those who felt their views weren't represented. Oh well, so I will be mildly hungry during the panel discussion - no great tragedy.

On the good news front, I have both power and wireless connectivity so all of you out there should be able to follow along. I'll throw this up in anticipation of the event and check back in once it starts.

And we're back.... Matthew Anderson is currently introducing our panel, beginning with Hughitt.

Hugh is now opening us up. Apparently we will be back in August of next year. The format will be each will speak for 5 minutes as an opener and then they will have a discussion. How do you be a successful blogger?

1. You know one subject incredibly well, and yet cover a lot of subjects. That way people will come to your site whenever they have the question on that subject, and yet you have other stuff to attract them

2. Tone, tone, tone. Joe Carter's Evangelical Outpost post on beginning blogging is excellent on this.

3. Take on tough subjects. It's tough to talk about tough subjects and do it well, and it keeps people coming back.

Our three panelists are particularly good at doing all of these. They reflect a tradition of both deep academic knowledge, and yet real, frontline service. It's good that we have examples like them to hold up as we try and get more of Christendom

Tod Bolsinger - He didn't know anything about blogging 15 months ago; was a reluctant blogger.
Focus - he feels like sometimes he is overly focused. There are certain topics he is very good at, and there are a lot of subjects he doesn't focus on because he is simply an amateur in them. He feels that his sense of focus gives him a niche as well as a certain amount of uniqueness. As a model we can see the sermon on the mount as a guide - Christ is speaking particularly to his disciples, and yet He is also clearly aware that the crowds and the Pharisees are hearing the message as well.

Mark Roberts - He is thanking the people involved and thanking Biola for hosting the event. He got into blogging because Hugh forced him into it over dinner about 2 years ago - telling him the blogosphere needs voices like your voice. He began with just the idea of being a Christian voice out in the blogosphere. He did a post on The Davinci Code and received a lot of thanks and helpful comments and that really built momentum for him in the community. He did similar posts on The Passion of the Christ and on Time and Newsweek cover stories on the birth of Christ.

John Mark Reynolds - Thanks everyone for coming to the GBC. Wants to clarify that all Christians are welcome here at GBC, and hopes that we can spread the word that people will be treated nicely to come back in August. thanks Matt Anderson and his team (who have done an excellent job - this conference has run smoothly and been excellent - ed.) He blogs not to get hits, but to reveal his life. Often in apologetics people feel that Christians are hiding something. Blogging can open up and expose our lives in a way that shows openness. It also shows what it means to be a Christian in a fully-orbed way. One thing to remember is that in a Google world, blogging is somewhat forever - so be careful about blogging, because people will be able to google it and find out.

Hugh has seven questions for each of the bloggers.

Question 1 - You were all busy before you blogged. From where has the time come and has it been hard for you and your family?

John Mark Reynolds: He spent his first month really diving into the new media and blogged a lot and learned the trade. From that point on, he made a rule for himself that he would spend only 1 hour a day. He also made a rule that he would spell check, but not grammar check his blog posts. He decided to cut back on his football and his free time in order to not sacrifice other areas.

Mark Roberts: He gave up a lot of TV time-killing (local news, et al.) Sometimes he will get in a bit over his head, and his family will notice and let him know - which is a good thing. His family is very supportive. His wife doesn't like him calling his blog his hobby, because it is such a big part of his ministry.

Ted Bolsinger: The first couple of months were difficult, but now more and more his work as a blogger is integrated with his work as a pastor. He rarely writes anything in the blog that doesn't get reused in a sermon or a newsletter, etc. He thinks that his blog has been a good way for people in his congregation to get to know him a lot better.

Question 2 - What are the dangers of blogging? What scripture would you say most reminds you of that danger?

Mark Roberts: He's done his worst blogging when angry - his thoughts are right, but he'll write something far too caustic. If he had to choose one verse to glue on the screen it would be speaking the truth in love.

Tod Bolsinger: "Do not let the send button go down on your anger" There's something about having this forum where it holds onto your material, and its a painful revelation when you realize how people are out there and reading your stuff. He has written some great stuff by writing it, and then waiting 12 hours to edit it and post it to refine the thoughts and let them mellow.

John Mark Reynolds: He keeps the biblical story in mind of David being forced out of Jerusalem by his son Absalom, and there is a guy cursing at him. His followers suggest killing the man, and David says something to the effect that let's wait until we win to kill him, in case he is right. Your critics are your best friend - think long and hard first about in what ways they are right. We need to avoid the temptation that we can win an argument right this second

Question 3 - What do Christian bloggers have to learn about fame in the blogosphere?

Tod Bolsinger: Matthew 6:1, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them" We need to be careful that we are doing this as a service, while trusting God to take care of our audience. We should be mindful of our motivations in blogging and getting more fame.

John Mark Reynolds: It's hard to be humble and own your name as a domain, but what else can be done? In his profession (philosophy professor), blogging is actually counterproductive to his career, which keeps him in check. One can only do one's best (sounds like he is pushing Pecca Fortier, Sin Boldly, ed.)

Mark Roberts: He ran into strangers that had read his blog and really liked it, which he has never even happened to him with the books he's written. He thought at the time, wow, this could really be a head trip. The thing that keeps him centered is he sometimes gets really touching emails from people who were really struggling with an issue that he had the chance to help by one of his writings. It helps him focus on what its really about, which is making a difference in people's lives.

Question 4 - Give us the warning signs of a pastor or Christian who should not blog.

John Mark Reynolds: 1. You're absolutely convinced that you have something to say that everyone needs to hear. Beware of a "calling" that is really just a inflated sense of self.
2. A person who is uninterested in taking part of the dialectic. We've come across blogs that are so convinced that people on the other side are clueless and evil.
3. The person who can't make any strong statements about anything because they are so afraid of what people will think.

Mark Roberts: 1. You have hard and difficult and painful things from which blogging is an attempt to escape.
2. Your family right now really really needs your time. There may be a time later, but don't do it now.
3. You're a person that has a hard time dealing with anger
4. If you're a perfectionist, you'll simply kill yourself. Its too quick a medium.
5. Don't blog if you don't care about words, grammar, etc. There are some people who so butcher the language that its really not worth reading them. Blogs are about words and communication, so if you don't care at all about these, best pass it up.

Tod Bolsinger: 1. Not all of us are called to a writing ministry. You need to be comfortable with writing if you're going to be a blogger - it will either be bad, or you'll spend all day doing it.
2. Blogging should not be a highly individualistic activity of yours, but you should be in a community - like everything else.

Question 5 - Ought pastors to do pure political advocacy?

Mark Roberts: He would caution a pastor from doing so, because you might alienate people in your congregation. He is a pastor first and foremost, and blogging should not harm that office. Talk it through your governing board and really think through it carefully, because you don't want to harm your ministry.

Tod Bolsinger: He doesn't blog as part of his church's website on purpose, because he doesn't want people to confuse his own thoughts with the message of the church. His blog can be kept separate from his preaching, so that he is able to work out ideas more that he wouldn't want to preach on. he echoes Mark's thoughts that first and foremost he is a pastor.

John Mark Reynolds: In his own faith tradition, there simply will not be any political bloggers. So some faiths have things that are more inappropriate than what other faiths would think about this. He maintains a distinction between what he says on his website, and what he would say on the Biola website. It is good for a congregation that is mature enough to handle it, to be able to see how their pastors live out their Christianity, and that plays out in how they live as citizen and how they would vote. They would need to make it clear, however, that there is

Question 6 - Have you encouraged a specific person to start blogging? If you could get someone to blog, who would it be? Who would you like NOT to blog?

Tod Bolsinger - Encouraged a former muslim, turned Christian and elder to blog. Particularly because he was left leaning. He started and did it for a while well, and then gave it up because it took too much time for him. In many ways where Tod disagrees with him, but feels he needs to hear his voice.

John Mark Reynolds: Matt Anderson and the crew of Mere Orthodoxy were ones that john Mark Reynolds encouraged to start blogging. Other than J.P. Moreland, whom Dr. Reynolds pesters publicly about blogging, he would like traditionalist muslims who hate the hijacking of islam by terrorists. He wishes that Orthodox people who misunderstand tradition as teaching anti-seimitism to not blog.

Mark Roberts: There have been some - he wrote an article about pastors blogging and got 50 something emails of pastors that did actually start blogs because of it. He really likes people Dr. Reynolds blogging - people with great ideas who are very well trained to whose ideas we don't normally get exposed. He'd also love to see Dennis Prager blog.

John Mark Reynolds offers to send Dennis Prager a student to ghost-blog for him, if Dennis is willing.

Question 7 - What 3 Christians, post discipleship era would you like to have seen blog?

John Mark Reynolds: C.S. Lewis doesn't count, because they always say it. Joan of ark, because she fascinates him and how she made Mark Twain write a good Christian novel. Charles Stewart (King Charles I) - a great man and an awful king. If he had godblogged, someone could have told him

Mark Roberts: Luther - he really already was a blogger with his tabletalks. He would have been excellent. Apostle Paul - He did with letters what we are doing with the blog. He definitely put the technology of his day to work for the Gospel of Christ. Calvin - first because Mark is a Presbyterian, btu mostly because Calvin's format is very long and difficult to read and it would be easier in blog sized snippets.

Tod Bolsinger: The puritans. They were doing stuff somewhat similar to blogging, and were very great at reflecting on ordinary life. Abraham Kuyper. Jürgen Moltmann (Wiki here) - he developed an in depth theology of the cross, and it would have been great to have watched him as it was developing.

Hugh has opened it up to the floor, and a few people are giving their responses. They are too fast for me to keep up with on here. One of the points was that we have a great panel and others who provide true servant leadership in the blogosphere.

Hugh asked female bloggers if they think that the blogosphere is male-dominated and harsh to women? Charmaine Yoest thinks not. Stacey Harp (also here) thinks that there are voices of women in the Godblogging community, and yet they aren't here. Why not? A lot of women who are Godbloggers are homeschoolers, and are unable to make it or have their own events. Just a woman blog - the blogosphere is incredibly welcome and encouraging to women bloggers because of the lack of female voices in the blogosphere.

There's some discussion on positive blogging. It's all too easy to tear down bad arguments, or give the negative case, and there is far too much out there like that already. We need to be building a positive case for holistic Christianity. If we do post something that takes down a view, or fisks an article, we should follow it with a post that gives our case.

Mark Roberts: Group blogs are good for a number of reasons. They build community more easily, and they advance the discussion further. They also allow us to post at a slower rate, and therefore not feel so pressured to post post post. so we can focus on quality.

Minute reflections from each panelist to close

John Mark Reynolds: He will say to us, what he says to his students. You are smart in a world where being smart is difficult.

Tod Bolsinger: Every wednesday he does a "half baked" study, where he lets his church in on where he is as he studies for the sermon. He loves being in the blogosphere because there is a great sense of sharpening each other, and honing our communication. We need to learn to work together to create a focused, public response in the blogosphere.

Mark Roberts: He has found a lot of success, like his examples tonight, in responding to things that are not good in a way that is constructive. It is a wonderful thing to experience having God use your blog to change someone's life. In the aftermath of Katrina, they found a sister church in New Orleans - a good example of how things can transcend locality and the blogosphere and make real concrete change. Its not a huge difference, but a lot of us, making small differences makes a big difference.

Mark closes us in prayer for tonight.

Posted: Fri - October 14, 2005 at 06:56 PM | | | | | | |

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